Joseph Lyle Menéndez (born January 10, 1968) and Erik Galen Menéndez (born November 27, 1970) are brothers who are known for their conviction in 1994, as a result of a much-publicized trial, for the shotgunmurders of their wealthy parents, entertainment executive Jose Menéndez and his wife Mary "Kitty" Menéndez of Beverly Hills, California, in 1989. They were sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

Shortly after marrying, Jose went to work for the accounting firm of Coopers & Lybrand, then moved to Chicago, Illinois after one of his auditing assignments of a Chicago company called Lyon Container so impressed the management they headhunted Jose into becoming their comptroller. Jose eventually rose to the top of Lyon Container, but his presidency was short-lived as he argued with the CEO about the company's mission, who staged a boardroom coup to have Jose fired. Jose moved his family to Princeton, New Jersey,[4] where he worked for The Hertz Corporation, becoming the general manager of leasing by age 35; after losing a chance to become CEO of Hertz he eventually was reassigned to RCA (which at the time owned Hertz).[1] Kitty Menendez was a school teacher who quit her job to be a full-time homemaker after Lyle was born. When Jose went to work for RCA, the company was saddled with high overhead, high performer salaries and few hits. Jose worked hard to reverse the problems by signing more Latin artists, as well as popular acts such as Eurythmics and Jefferson Starship, but he failed to prevent a stock slide. Through connections made in the entertainment business, Jose was elected CEO of LIVE Entertainment, best known for Carolco Pictures, and the family moved to Calabasas, California, where the boys spent their adolescence.

In New Jersey, both brothers attended Princeton Day School for grade school, and Lyle later attended Princeton University. After the family relocated to California during 1987, Erik attended high school in Calabasas, with average grades, but showing remarkable athletic skills in tennis, as did his brother Lyle. Lyle was placed on academic probation at Princeton for poor grades and disciplinary problems, and after allegations of plagiarism in his freshman year, he was suspended for one year.

On August 20, 1989, Lyle and Erik were 21 and 18 years old, respectively. The murders occurred that evening in the den of the family's home in Beverly Hills at 722 North Elm Drive. Jose and Kitty were tired that summer evening because the family had been shark fishing on a chartered yacht, Motion Picture Marine, until midnight the previous day. With Lyle and Erik out for the evening, Jose and Kitty retired to the den to watch the James Bond movieThe Spy Who Loved Me.

Neighbors later reported hearing loud bangs about 10 p.m. but dismissed it as nothing to be concerned about, chalking it up to local kids playing with firecrackers. Jose was shot point-blank in the back of the head with a Mossberg 12-gauge shotgun. Kitty, awakened by the shots, sprang from the couch and ran for the hallway but was shot in the leg. She slipped in her own blood and fell, then was shot several times in the arm, chest, and face, leaving her unrecognizable. Both Jose and Kitty were then shot in the kneecap in an attempt to make the murders appear related to organized crime. The brothers then drove away and dumped their shotguns on Mulholland Drive and bought tickets at a local movie theater, intending to see the film Batman as an alibi; but, due to it being sold out at the box office, they saw the James Bond film Licence to Kill instead. Following the film, the brothers met with friends at a bar and wine festival to cement their alibi and gain potential witnesses. At 11:47 p.m., when the brothers returned home, Lyle telephoned 911 and cried, "Somebody killed my parents!" The police considered the brothers suspects but did not have any evidence, nor did they order the brothers to undergo gunshot residue tests to see if they had recently used a firearm.[5] During their trial, Erik said he spotted a shotgun shell they had left on the floor and removed it when the policeman talking to him looked away.

Security at the home had been good. The Mediterranean mansion was rented previously to the musician Prince and to Elton John. Jose frequently left the alarm system off and the gates open, even after his Mercedes-Benz 560SEL was stolen from the front semi-circular driveway of the house, just weeks before the murders. Kitty, on the other hand, was agitated in the time just prior to the murders, constantly locking her bedroom door at night and keeping a rifle in her wardrobe.

During the months after the murders, the brothers spent money lavishly, adding to investigators' suspicions that they had been involved with their parents' deaths.[6] Lyle bought an expensive Rolex watch, a Porsche Carrera and Chuck's Spring Street Cafe,[7] a Buffalo wings restaurant in Princeton. Erik also hired a full-time tennis coach and competed in a series of pro tournaments in Israel. They left the North Elm Drive mansion unoccupied and lived in two separate penthouse apartments in nearby Marina del Rey. They drove around Los Angeles in their late mother's Mercedes-Benz SL convertible, dined expensively, and went on overseas trips to the Caribbean and London. Prosecutors later alleged that the brothers spent about $1 million during their first six months as orphans. Erik confessed the murders to his psychologist, who, after being threatened by Lyle, told his girlfriend about the killings. After they broke up, the girlfriend told the police. Lyle was arrested near the mansion on March 8, 1990, after police received information that he was preparing to flee California. Erik, who was in Israel at the time, surrendered himself three days later upon returning to Los Angeles. Both were remanded without bail, and were segregated from each other.

In August 1990, Judge James Albrecht ruled that the tapes of conversations between Erik and his psychologist would be admissible because Lyle had voided doctor–patient privilege due to threatening physical harm against Dr. Oziel. The ruling was appealed, delaying the proceedings for two years. After the ruling was initially overturned on appeal, the Supreme Court of California declared in August 1992 that several tapes were admissible, though not the tape on which Erik discussed the murders. This finally allowed a Los Angeles Countygrand jury to issue indictments in December 1992 on charges that the brothers had murdered their parents.[citation needed]

The Menendez brothers and the murder of their parents became a national sensation when Court TV broadcast the trial during 1993. The younger brother's defense attorney, Leslie Abramson, became famous with her flamboyant defense, alleging that the brothers were driven to murder by a lifetime of abuse from their parents, including sexual abuse from their father, Jose, who was described as a cruel, callous perfectionist and pedophile, while Kitty was portrayed as a selfish, mentally unstable, alcoholic drug addict who enabled her husband's abuse and was also sometimes violent to them.[8] Despite the defense theory, the past criminal records of the brothers stood in contrast to the "escape from parental abuse" theory. The trial ended with two deadlocked juries.[9]

Both brothers were convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder. In the penalty phase of the trial, the jury did not endorse death sentences for the brothers but instead returned recommendations of life in prison. The jury later said that the abuse defense was never a factor in their deliberations and that the jury rejected the death penalty because neither brother had a felony record or a history of violence. Unlike the previous trials, the jury unanimously rejected the defense theory that the brothers killed their parents out of fear, but believed rather that the murders were committed with the intent of gaining control of their parents' considerable wealth.[11]

On July 2, 1996, Judge Weisberg sentenced Lyle and Erik Menendez to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Judge Weisberg sentenced the brothers to consecutive sentences for the murders and the charge of conspiracy to commit murder. As had been done during their pretrial detention, the California Department of Corrections separated the Menendez brothers, sending them to different prisons. Both were classified as maximum-security inmates and were segregated from other prisoners.

Of note, during the penalty phase of the murder trial for Erik and Lyle Menendez, defense lawyer Leslie Abramson allegedly directed a defense witness, Dr. William Vicary, to alter his notes, but the district attorney's office decided that it would not investigate the infraction.[12] Both brothers filed motions for a mistrial, claiming that they suffered irreparable damage in the penalty phase as a result of suggestions of possible misconduct and ineffective representation by Abramson.

On February 27, 1998, the California Court of Appeal upheld the murder convictions, and on May 28, 1998, the California Supreme Court voted to uphold the murder convictions and life-without-parole sentences, with none of the Supreme Court justices voting to review the case.[13]

Both brothers filed habeas corpus petitions with the California Supreme Court, which were denied in 1999. Having exhausted their appeal remedies in state court, the brothers filed separate habeas corpus petitions in the United States District Court. On March 4, 2003, a magistrate judge recommended that the petitions be denied.[14][15] The district court adopted the magistrate judge's report and recommendation. The brothers then appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. On September 7, 2005, a three-judge panel issued their ruling affirming the denial of both brothers' petitions for habeas corpus.[16]

Since entering prison, both brothers have married, even though California does not allow conjugal visits for those convicted of murder or for those serving life sentences.

On July 2, 1996, Lyle married long-time pen pal Anna Eriksson, a former model, in a ceremony attended by Abramson and Lyle's aunt Marta Menendez and presided over by Judge Nancy Brown. The two were divorced on April 1, 2001,[13] after Eriksson reportedly discovered that Lyle was "cheating" on her by writing to another woman. In November 2003, Lyle, then 35, married Rebecca Sneed, a 33-year-old magazine editor from Sacramento, at a ceremony in a maximum security visiting area of Mule Creek State Prison. Lyle and Rebecca had reportedly known each other for about ten years prior to their engagement.[17][18]

In 1997, Erik was reportedly married in a telephone ceremony at Folsom State Prison. In June 1999, Erik, age 28, married Tammi Ruth Saccoman, age 37, at Folsom State Prison in a prison waiting room. Tammi later stated, "Our wedding cake was a Twinkie. We improvised. It was a wonderful ceremony until I had to leave. That was a very lonely night."[19][20] In an interview with ABC News in October 2005, she described her relationship with Erik as "something that I've dreamed about for a long time. And it's just something very special that I never thought that I would ever have."[21] Tammi Menendez also self-published a book during 2005 titled They Said We'd Never Make It - My Life With Erik Menendez, though Tammi said on Larry King Live that Erik "did a lot of editing on the book".[22]

In an interview with People magazine, Tammi Menendez stated that "Not having sex in my life is difficult, but it's not a problem for me. I have to be physically detached, and I'm emotionally attached to Erik... My family does not understand. When it started to get serious, some of them just threw up their hands." Tammi also noted that she and her 10-year-old daughter drive the 150 miles (240 km) every weekend to see Erik, whom her daughter refers to as her "Earth Dad".[19]

Regarding his sentence of life without parole, Erik has stated: "Tammi is what gets me through. I can't think about the sentence. When I do, I do it with a great sadness and a primal fear. I break into a cold sweat. It's so frightening I just haven't come to terms with it."[19]